


tell the world i’m coming home

by HerDiamonds



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Post canon, post 16x16
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerDiamonds/pseuds/HerDiamonds
Summary: She has seconds left before her whole world could change. Before her whole world can completely flip and alter on its axis.The seconds tick down and before she can even take a breath, it rings.She freezes.Staring down at the white and blue stick on the bathroom counter. She keeps it face down as she feels the nausea rising in her throat.The butterflies in her stomach seem to wake and flutter around as she feels her heart beating so fast in her chest in the silence of her loft.ORthe one where jo finds out she’s pregnant post 16x16…[cross-posted on my tumblr ]
Relationships: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson Karev
Comments: 33
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heyo! I know this might be different, seeing as im mainly a dc cw fanfic writer, but I did pretty much get my “satan” nickname in the greys fandom on Tumblr and started dabbling back in fic writing for greys again recently and so im just cross-posting my newest greys fic here. you can find it on Tumblr [here](https://cicinicole-14.tumblr.com/post/633731758209302528/can-you-please-please-please-please-do-a-new-jolex) . hope you enjoy!
> 
> OH! also, this is a “mini-series” technically. so my chapters will be shorter than usual (usually I try to keep chapters at least 1200 words or more but these ones vary between 700-2k atm). im hopefully going to be finishing this fic up soon I have about half of it written atm… 
> 
> also disregard the canon that jo and glasses slept together that absolutely did not happen I refuse to believe that. anyway enjoy!!!

She’s never been this nervous before; this _scared._

She applied and got accepted to Princeton, she lived in her car for years as a teenager, she ran away from an abusive ex, she took and passed her surgical boards exams, yet never has she been _this_ nervous and scared as she sits on the closed lid of the toilet, staring at the timer on her phone slowly ticking down three minutes.

Soon it’s two.

And then one.

Then seconds.

She has seconds left before her whole world could change. Before her whole world can completely flip and alter on its axis.

The seconds tick down and before she can even take a breath, it rings.

She freezes.

Staring down at the white and blue stick on the bathroom counter. She keeps it face down as she feels the nausea rising in her throat.

The butterflies in her stomach seem to wake and flutter around as she feels her heart beating so fast in her chest in the silence of her loft.

She’s entranced, staring at the test when a chime interrupts her thoughts and she glances down at her phone, opening the text.

**_Meredith Grey:_ ** _did you take it yet?_

Before she can even finish reading another text pops up right below.

**_Meredith Grey:_ ** _what did it say?_

**_> > _ ** _Jo?_

**_> > _ ** _Do you need me to come over?_

**_> > _ ** _Am I booking tickets to Nebraska to kick Alex’s ass?_

All Jo can do is swallow the lump in her throat as the white stick stares back at her, feeling like it’s boring right into her soul.

She doesn’t know how long she stares at it, but there’s suddenly a knock at her door, ripping her away from the bathroom.

She slides the door open, in a daze, letting the blonde in.

“You haven’t replied to my texts in over twenty minutes. I got worried. Did you look at the test? Are you pregnant or not?” Meredith asks, setting her purse down on a side table.

Jo shakes her head.

“You have to take another then. They’re only accurate within a few minutes. Now, go pee again.” She insists, giving Jo a gentle shove towards her bathroom.

Meredith waits on the couch, talking aimlessly to Jo through the bathroom door, but Jo doesn’t register much of anything she says until Meredith slides the bathroom door open.

Jo’s slightly shocked face makes her roll her eyes. “You flushed almost two minutes ago. I figured you were decent. Now, let me see the test. It’s been three minutes by now.” She says, holding her hand out expectantly.

Jo places the stick in her palm before sitting down on the toilet lid again.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know it’s going to be positive.” She takes a shaky, weak breath as tears well up in her brown eyes. “He left. He left to raise kids in another state and leaves me knocked up. What do I even tell him? This sounds like a cry for him to come back but I don’t even know if I want that. He, he wrecked me, Meredith. He promised he would never leave me, ever. He stuck by me through all my shit with being admitted, we got remarried for god sakes, and then he leaves. Leaves me pregnant with his kid. What do I do?”

The second timer on her phone chimes and Meredith holds the stick back out to her. “You look at the test, and do whatever you want. If you’re pregnant, you don’t have to keep it. You have options. You also don’t even have to tell Alex, but you need to look at the test, and know that I’ll be here to support you in whatever decision you choose, though I would recommend telling Alex, but that’s not my decision to make.”

Jo nods, reaching for the test. “Thank you, Meredith.”

She looks down at the test again before flipping it over, ripping off the bandaid.

The tears sting at the edge of her eyes as she reads the results on the tiny screen in bold black letters.

_Pregnant._

Her heartbeat echoes in her head.

She sets the test down with shaking hands, face up so Meredith can read the results, knowing her voice would fail her if she tried to speak.

She feels Meredith wrap her arms around her shoulders and pull her in for a tight hug, saying something, but Jo doesn’t register the words as she tucks her face into Meredith's shoulder and lets the tears finally fall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two things: first, we are going to pretend Meredith said Kansas in the text in the first part and second, this is the last “short” chapter as of now bc they all got so much significantly longer like the one part I wrote last night is upwards of 1700 words and I am not finished with it so whoops… 
> 
> anyway! enjoy!

Jo looks down at the blurry ultrasound picture in her hands as she stares at her phone screen.

So far, she’d pulled up her and Alex’s old text log and scrolled through the past few texts. Her eyes tear up at the few _“be home soon”_ and _“love you forever”_ she sees before the _“did you sign the divorce papers?”_ pops up. She did. She has them signed. And they’ve just been sitting on the counter in her kitchen, next to her laptop. She knows she needs to get them filed soon, but work has been hectic and her and Bailey are riding on the edge of a breakthrough, she can feel it.

She makes the excuses to herself. Anything to not fully accept that her and Alex are really, truly over.

She looks down at the ultrasound picture. There’s a tiny greyish-white blob amidst the black and white photo she knows to be her baby– _their_ baby.

Carina estimated that she was already ten weeks and one day. She knows. She knows it’s been a while. She’d been putting off taking a test for almost two weeks at that point, until Meredith had caught her throwing up at work, shaking, knowing that the “food poisoning” she had the week prior wouldn’t be a feasible lie any longer.

Her hands shook again as she looked back down at her phone. She swallows back the lump in her throat before beginning to type.

_How in the hell does she even begin to tell Alex this?_

A million thoughts run through her head. She even thinks about not telling him, but she can’t do that. She wouldn’t. Alex is too good of a man to not want to help raise his kid. After all, he left her to get back with his ex-wife for their kids. Kids he missed out on raising for five years. Jo wouldn’t be like Izzie. As much as she was angry at Alex in the moment, she’d never deprive him of his child like she did.

She looks down, tapping her thumbs anxiously against the side of her phone before finally typing out a message she deemed worthy of sending. Ripping off the band-aid and closing her eyes, she hit send, watching the grainy photo and blue bubble deliver.

**< < **Alex, I don’t want you to think this is a cry to get you back in Seattle. I’d never do that to you, but you deserve to know. I found out yesterday that I’m 10 weeks pregnant. I figured you’d want to know. You have no obligation to us, but I wanted you to know I’m planning on keeping this baby.

[ultrasound.jpg]

She knows with just that information, and the sonogram photo attached, he’d know she wasn’t lying.

Quickly, Jo locks her phone, placing the sonogram photo back in her purse, depositing her phone in there as well before shoving it back into its spot in the attending lounge closet and grabbing her scrub cap. She doesn’t have all day to wait around for Alex’s reply. She had surgeries and research to get to.

She turns, smiling at a frazzled Meredith walking through the door. “Morning, Jo.”

Jo smiles weakly as she ties her scrub cap behind her head, and smoothing out her scrub top. “I texted Alex.” She says bravely.

Meredith nods, reaching for Jo’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. “Have a good day at work.” She wishes.

Jo nods in thanks before heading out of the lounge.

Twelve long hours later, dressed down in street clothes, Jo runs a hand through her hair after undoing her tight braids. She checks her phone after pulling her bag out of the cubby it was in, frowning not seeing any messages besides one from Meredith and one from Link. She ignores them for a moment, closing up shop and exiting the lounge, bidding goodbye to a few of the other surgeons and nurses around.

The automatic doors of the hospital slide open and the cool, rainy Seattle air hits her face. The blacktop parking lot glistens in the moonlit sky as she heads to her car.

She stops dead in her tracks at the figure leaning up against her car in a worn jacket and hands in his jean pockets, looking down.

“Alex.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come yell at me on tumblr


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its unedited again, bc we die like men. 
> 
> also, I have a tiktok I made that goes with chapters 4&5 I’ll post on my Tumblr and yall can yell at me for it there… but it won’t be posted til after chapters 5 is up because it contains major spoilers. 
> 
> anyway hope yall enjoy!

_“Alex.”_

Her voice edges on surprise, but doesn’t quite match it, teetering on the verge of a warning almost as well. She’s genuinely confused seeing him leaning up against her car in the rain.

She unlocks it, ushering him to get in and out of the drizzling rain she knows is going to soon pick up.

He looks over at her with solemn brown eyes, and she can read him like a book, just as she’d always been able to once he’d let her past his walls.

She could see the immense amount of guilt swirling behind the friendly front he’s put up. She can see the regret in his eyes, and knows the hurt is evident in his chest as he looks down, breaking their eye contact.

“I’m sorry.” The first words he speaks to her as he reaches for her hand across the console, but she pulls away, not ready for that. Had it not been raining, she wouldn’t have even invited him in the car and would’ve made sure there was much more distance between them still, but alas.

“I don’t need your apologies, Alex.” She says softly. And it pains her to even speak to him.

“I know.” He replies back before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

The silence in the car hangs heavy over both of them, but neither are willing to break it yet. Jo has tears welling in her eyes, threatening to spill over but she refuses to show even a slight sign of weakness by letting a tear fall in front of him.

Alex finally caves, facing forward, not sure if he could even do this while looking at Jo.

He’d given up everything for a notion of a happy life, and it had all fallen apart instantly. He’d given up his entire life and happiness at a notion of a life, that fell through cracks and ruined his joy.

He clears his throat before speaking.

“Izzie and I aren’t together.” He finally breaks the heavy silence. It’s enough to pull Jo out of her intense daze and look at him for the first time.

She can see from his profile view, the bags laying heavy around his eyes, the redness rimming them, and how hollow he looks compared to what she remembered.

It makes her feel sick and dread fills her chest, but she pushes it down before quickly looking away, staying silent, hoping he’d take it as a cue to continue.

He doesn’t. Whether it’s lack of not knowing what else to say or how to continue, or that was all he had to say, he remains silent.

“What do you want me to say, Alex? Come back home? Marry me, _again?_ Let’s just be a happy family again and forget that you left me for your ex-wife and supposed children and moved halfway across the country without consulting me, your _wife,_ first?”

She didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh, but things were still fresh and raw and she had a lot of hormones flowing through her at the moment. She was exhausted after her twelve hour shift and had just wanted to crawl into bed tonight and forget things for a while, but the universe obviously had other plans.

“No. I don’t expect you to take me back, but I just wanted to clear the air between us. I wanted you to know, and know how truly sorry I am for leaving like that. No one deserves to be broken up with, like that, especially you. It was a really crappy thing I did and I know that. Also, I want you to know that I’m fighting Izzie for custody of the kids. I currently have a two bedroom apartment in Kansas and split custody of the twins, but I'm fighting for full.”

Jo grips the steering wheel in her hands until her knuckles are turning white. “So you’re going to sue me for full custody of this baby too?”

“No.” Alex barely lets her finish her sentence before shutting her down. “No, Jo, I’d never do that to you. The fact that you’re telling me already, that we’re having a kid, makes me so happy. That even with how much you hate me, you’re still willing to tell me about this baby. Izzie––” He pauses. “Izzie deprived me of over five years of that with Eli and Lex. You’re––you’re still letting me in from the beginning. So thank you.”

Jo still sits, gripping the wheel, though this time the pressure is lighter as the color returns to her fingers. She stares at the tan line that had started fading from where her wedding rings used to lie.

She hates a lot of things at the moment, like how empty her ring finger feels without the weight of the rings. She hates how angry she is at the universe. She hates not having any control over her emotions at the moment, and hates that she can feel the tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

She hates a lot of things right now, but not Alex. _Never_ Alex.

“I don’t hate you.” She says after a beat, managing to find her voice. It’s raw, wavering and barely audible but by the way Alex’s head lifts and his eyes meet her in slight surprise, she knows he heard it. “I hate a lot of things right now, but not you. I’m mad, angry, _furious_ at you. I want to smack you upside the head and maybe punch you, but I don’t hate you. Especially after giving me something to be happy about among all my anger.”

Alex looks back down. “I don’t know what else to say.” He taps his foot lightly against the floorboards of the car.

Jo just nods subtly. She pauses before digging through her purse sitting on her lap, pulling out the folded sonogram picture and handing it to him.   
  
“Here, I have another copy.” She says, offering the olive branch.

Alex takes it, tentatively, staring down at the grainy photo.

“That’s a baby in there.” He says in slight shock still, a smile gracing his face.

Jo quietly stifles a laugh before shutting herself up. She looks up at him with teary eyes. “ _Our_ baby.” She says, ever so softly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“Yeah, our baby.” Alex echoes softly.

She can’t take the tense feeling in the car any longer and she pulls it into reverse. “What hotel are you at?” She says, clearing her throat and pushing back her tear-filled voice, trying to sound as normal as she can manage as she turns around checking her surrounding areas for other vehicles in the parking lot.

The drive to the hotel is silent as Jo keeps her eyes on the road and focuses on the blades of the wipers going back and forth as she pulls up to the building. She puts the car into park and waits for Alex to unbuckle and exit.

He ducks out of the car, and just as he’s shutting the door, he looks back at her, back at Jo, the woman he loves with everything in him, and smiles. “It was never going to work with Izzie because my heart still belongs to someone else, Jo. I still love you.”

Jo looks up from the steering wheel just as Alex shuts the door and turns, heading into the lobby of the hotel.

She watches as the man who once owned her heart walked off, leaving her swirling with emotions. She rests her head on the back of her hands on the wheel, letting the tears finally freely fall, once again, not sure what to feel at this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oop so, Alex still loves her…wbk… wonder what’s happening next? what are y’alls thoughts? what about the twins? Izzie? is jo going to take him back? cant wait to hear what y’all think! and if there’s anything you’d really like to see in this story/series lmk, I can work it in here, or maybe in a oneshot for the verse. :D 
> 
> as always, come yell at me on tumblr @cicinicole-14 or on twitter @gayvasharpe


End file.
